ChatGPT can be utilized in designing market survey questions by providing suggestions and sample questions. It eliminates several manual steps and allows us to work smarter.

By providing a prompt to ChatGPT, we can describe the specific information we want to gather, the target audience, and the survey’s objectives. Based on this input, ChatGPT can provide recommendations for practical survey questions and help refine and clarify them. It can also offer insights into question structure, wording, and potential response options.

Choosing a survey topic#

The first step is to start with a survey topic. We will consider shopping habits and preferences as our market research topic and aim to design questions through ChatGPT. We'll start with the following prompt:

Prompt: Provide a market survey questions for shopping habits and preferences.

  1. How often do you go shopping for non-grocery items?

  2. What types of items do you typically buy while shopping?

  3. What influences your decision to make a purchase while shopping?

  4. Do you prefer shopping in-store or online? Why?

  5. How important are discounts or sales in your decision to make a purchase?

  6. What factors influence your decision to purchase from a particular store or brand?

  7. How do you typically pay for your purchases? Cash, credit card, mobile payment, etc.?

  8. Do you typically research products before making a purchase? If so, what sources do you use?

  9. How often do you return items that you have purchased?

  10. Have you ever used a subscription or membership service for shopping? If so, which one(s) and why did you choose it?

Although it provided us with the questions, the survey is incomplete. One reason is that we did not offer proper instructions in the prompt.

Lets’s refine the prompt by adding the following elements to it:

  • What type of questions?

  • How many questions?

  • What is our goal in designing these questions?

Before designing a survey, we should know the types of questions and their corresponding goals involved in a typical survey. Let’s expand on it in the following section.

Identifying the category of questions#

There are two broad categories of questions:

  • Closed-ended questions: These are questions with predefined responses that participants can select.

  • Open-ended questions: As the name suggests, these questions allow free-text responses from participants.

Categories of questions
Categories of questions

Closed-ended questions#

These questions in a market survey provide predefined response options to the targetted audience and provide a structured method for collecting specific information. These include MCQs, rating scales, or dichotomous (Yes/No) questions.

Closed-ended questions are easy to analyze and help collect quantitative data to compare with other competitive products. However, sometimes these questions do not capture the range of responses or the fundamental nature of the market due to the limited or restricted response options.

Let’s proceed with our survey on shopping habits and preferences and ask ChatGPT to provide us with relevant closed-ended questions, as shown below:

Prompt: Provide a survey with 5 closed-ended questions to provide insights into customers’ habits and preferences about shopping habits and preferences.

Certainly! Here’s a sample survey with 5 closed-ended questions to gather insights into customers’ shopping habits and preferences:

  1. How often do you shop for non-grocery items in a month?

    a. 1-2 times

    b. 3-4 times

    c. 5-6 times

    d. More than 6 times

  2. Which of the following factors influences your decision to make a purchase while shopping?

    a. Price

    b. Quality

    c. Brand reputation

    d. Convenience

  3. Do you prefer shopping in-store or online?

    a. In-store

    b. Online

    c. Both equally

  4. How important are discounts or sales in your decision to make a purchase?

    a. Very important

    b. Somewhat important

    c. Not very important

    d. Not at all important

  5. Have you ever used a subscription or membership service for shopping?

    a. Yes, I currently use one

    b. Yes, but I no longer use one

    c. No, I have never used one

Looking at ChatGPT’s response, we can observe the following:

  • The first question targets the shopping habits of the customer.

  • The second and third question aims at finding the customer’s preferences.

  • The fourth question provides insights into how a customer would rate the shopping experience based on discounts.

  • Finally, the fifth question is a dichotomous question.

Open-ended questions#

Open-ended market survey questions prompt the target audience to provide detailed, free-text responses instead of pre-defined responses. These questions allow potential customers to express their thoughts, opinions, and experiences in their own words. These questions provide more flexibility and depth of information compared to closed-ended questions.

The open-ended questions help collect qualitative data and provide deeper insights into opinions. However, they are time-consuming to analyze and reach a conclusion. They are also difficult to collect as people don’t like spending a lot of time answering them.

The open-ended questions cover the following four different categories via market research:

  • Identifying customer demands

  • Improving products

  • Customer satisfaction and feedback

  • The market needs and trends

Let’s ask ChatGPT to provide us with five open-ended questions regarding shopping habits and preferences using the following prompt:

Prompt: Provide a survey with 5 open-ended questions to identify customer demands and market needs, improve products, customer satisfaction, and feedback related to shopping habits and preferences.

Sure! Here’s a sample survey with 5 open-ended questions to gather customer demands, market needs, and feedback related to shopping habits and preferences:

  1. What are your preferred types of products to shop for? Please provide specific details and examples.

  2. Can you describe a recent positive shopping experience? What made it enjoyable and satisfying for you?

  3. Are there any specific features or qualities you look for in a product before making a purchase? Please explain.

  4. In your opinion, what areas or aspects of the shopping experience could be improved? Please share any suggestions or ideas you may have.

  5. How important is personalized customer service to you when shopping? Can you provide any examples of exceptional customer service experiences you’ve had?

These questions gather information and insights from customers regarding their shopping preferences, experiences, expectations, and suggestions for improvement.

Diving deep into the types of questions#

We have already seen the two broad categories of questions that appear in a survey. Let’s dive deep into what types of closed and open-ended questions a researcher can ask to gather comprehensive data that encompasses the participants’ characteristics, actions, and opinions.

We can further divide the two categories into three types that can be considered while conducting a survey. These include the following:

  • Demographic questions

  • Behavioral questions

  • Likert scale questions

Types of questions in a market survey
Types of questions in a market survey

Demographic questions#

Demographic questions collect information about customers’ demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, income, or education. They also provide insights into attitudes or behaviors among different customer groups and help us identify the target customer for our product.

Demographic questions help us cover the following three different categories via market research. These are as follows:

  • Identifying customer demands

  • Improving products

  • Getting a feel for the price

Let’s include all these considerations in the prompt and generate a response.

Prompt: Provide a survey with 5 demographic questions to show how it can provide insights into attitudes or behaviors among different customer groups related to shopping habits and preferences.

Sure! Here’s an example of a survey with 5 demographic questions related to shopping habits and preferences:

  1. What is your age group?

    • 18-24 years old
    • 25-34 years old
    • 35-44 years old
    • 45-54 years old
    • 55 years old and above

  2. What is your gender?

    • Male
    • Female
    • Non-binary
    • Prefer not to say

  3. What is your highest level of education?

    • High school diploma or equivalent
    • Associate’s degree or some college
    • Bachelor’s degree
    • Master’s degree or higher

  4. Which income range best represents your annual household income?

    • Less than $25,000
    • $25,000-$49,999
    • $50,000-$74,999
    • $75,000-$99,999
    • $100,000 or more

  5. Which geographic region do you reside in?

    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • South America
    • Africa
    • Oceania

From the example above, we have seen that for accurate responses from ChatGPT, it’s necessary to provide a detailed prompt. We can identify patterns and differences in shopping habits and preferences in different age groups, gender, education level, income, and geographical regions.

Likert scale questions#

In a market survey, Likert scale questions are commonly asked to rate the level of agreement or disagreement of respondents on a statement. These questions provide a range of response options, for example, strongly agree to strongly disagree or from very satisfied to very dissatisfied. The respondents indicate their level of agreement or satisfaction by selecting the most appropriate option on the scale.

Likert scale questions are useful for measuring respondents’ attitudes, opinions, or perceptions about a specific topic. However, these questions are susceptible to a response bias, possibly leading to a skewed representation of the respondents’ beliefs.

Let’s ask ChatGPT to provide us with five Likert scale questions about the survey on shopping habits and preferences below:

Prompt: Provide a survey with 5 Likert scale questions to measure customers’ attitudes that can be used to create an overall score regarding shopping habits and preferences.

Certainly! Here’s an example of a survey with 5 Likert scale questions to measure customers’ attitudes towards shopping habits and preferences:

  1. Please rate your overall satisfaction with your shopping experiences for non-grocery items.

    1 - Very unsatisfied

    2 - Unsatisfied

    3 - Neutral

    4 - Satisfied

    5 - Very satisfied

  2. To what extent do you agree with the statement: “I enjoy browsing and discovering new products while shopping”?

    1 - Strongly disagree

    2 - Disagree

    3 - Neutral

    4 - Agree

    5 - Strongly agree

  3. How important are product quality and durability when making a purchase for non-grocery items?

    1 - Not important at all

    2 - Somewhat unimportant

    3 - Neutral

    4 - Somewhat important

    5 - Very important

  4. To what extent do you agree with the statement: “I prefer to shop at stores that offer a wide variety of products”?

    1 - Strongly disagree

    2 - Disagree

    3 - Neutral

    4 - Agree

    5 - Strongly agree

  5. How likely are you to recommend your favorite store/brand for non-grocery items to a friend or family member?

    1 - Very unlikely

    2 - Unlikely

    3 - Neutral

    4 - Likely

    5 - Very likely

Behavioral questions#

Behavioral questions in a market survey aim to explore respondents’ past interactions, behaviors, and experiences about a specific product, service, or industry. These questions aim to uncover valuable insights about how individuals have engaged with or made choices regarding a particular product in the market.

These questions are good for understanding actual consumer behavior rather than attitude or opinions and also assist businesses in identifying patterns or trends in behavior over time.

Let’s utilize ChatGPT to generate five behavioral questions that pertain to the survey on shopping habits and preferences:

Prompt: Provide a survey with 5 behavioral questions to help identify patterns or trends in behavior related to shopping habits and preferences.

Certainly! Here’s an example of a survey with 5 behavioral questions to help identify patterns or trends in customers’ shopping habits and preferences:

  1. How often do you purchase non-grocery items impulsively?

    a) Almost never

    b) Rarely

    c) Sometimes

    d) Often

    e) Almost always

  2. When shopping for non-grocery items, how much time do you typically spend researching products before making a purchase?

    a) Less than 30 minutes

    b) 30 minutes to 1 hour

    c) 1 to 2 hours

    d) 2 to 4 hours

    e) More than 4 hours

  3. On average, how much do you spend on non-grocery items in a month?

    a) Less than $50

    b) $50 to $100

    c) $100 to $200

    d) $200 to $500

    e) More than $500

  4. How often do you purchase non-grocery items online?

    a) Almost never

    b) Rarely

    c) Sometimes

    d) Often

    e) Almost always

  5. Do you tend to stick with familiar brands when purchasing non-grocery items, or are you willing to try new brands?

    a) I usually stick with familiar brands

    b) I sometimes try new brands

    c) I often try new brands

    d) I almost always try new brands

Let’s evaluate our understanding of the above types of questions and their purpose via the following matching quiz:

Match The Answer
Select an option from the left-hand side

Demographic questions

These questions are commonly asked to rate the level of agreement or disagreement of respondents on a statement.

Likert scale questions

These questions collect information about customers’ demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, income, or education.

Behavioral questions

These questions in a market survey aim to explore respondents’ past interactions, behaviors, and experiences about a specific product, service, or industry.

What is Market Research?

Other Market Research Methods